Senator Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Brandon Lutnick demanding details on the firm's financial relationship with Tether, questioning its sanctions and anti-money-laundering safeguards. The letter follows a September 28 staff report that found most sanctioned wallets reviewed by Senate investigators relied heavily on Tether's USDT.
Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter Thursday to Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Brandon Lutnick, demanding information on the firm's ties to Tether. Cantor holds and manages Tether's reserves in the U.S. and shares other business interests with the stablecoin issuer.
A family tie inside the probe
Brandon Lutnick is the son of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who handed Cantor's leadership to his son when he joined the Trump administration. Blumenthal has separately been scrutinizing Tether's role in Iran's financial system. According to the letter, Blumenthal wrote that "Cantor Fitzgerald profited from its relationship with Tether." Neither Cantor Fitzgerald nor Tether responded to requests for comment.
Staff report flagged sanctioned wallets
The letter follows a staff report Blumenthal released on September 28 titled "Tethered to Terrorism," which reviewed 846 wallets designated by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and Israel's National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing between June 2021 and August 2026. The review found that 84% of those wallets relied heavily on USDT — 87% among Israel-designated wallets and 57% among OFAC-designated ones. It also said two sanctioned Iranian oil smugglers moved over $603 million in USDT through networks tied to Hezbollah and Houthi factions.
Cantor Fitzgerald holds a 5% equity stake in Tether and manages a large share of its U.S. reserves, estimated above $100 billion, according to the report. Tether has said it helped freeze around $550 million in Iran-affiliated USDT during 2026.
What a Democratic Senate majority would change
Blumenthal and other congressional crypto critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, currently hold limited authority as members of the minority party. Prediction markets favor Democrats to retake the Senate: Kalshi puts the odds at 61%, up from closer to 50-50 several weeks earlier. Polymarket puts the odds at 64%. If Democrats win several more seats, Blumenthal and his colleagues could find themselves atop committees with subpoena power to compel information and testimony.
Sources: CoinDesk, Crypto Briefing
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